Many Canadian pension plan sponsors will recall the late 80s and early 90s as a time of significant change. Over a span of about six years, the federal and most provincial governments introduced significant changes to their respective pension laws and regulations. While there was certainly some fine-tuning to the laws and regulations over the […]
It has been just over a year since equity markets took a sharp turn downward, one of the many casualties of the global economic crisis. Defined benefit (DB) pension plan sponsors are hoping—and in some cases praying—for recovery from the single most damaging financial punch that has ever struck pension plans. The pension bruise is […]
In June 2009, the Ontario Government amended the Regulation to the Pension Benefits Act (Ontario), or PBA, providing most defined benefit pension plan sponsors with solvency funding relief in the first actuarial valuation report filed with an effective date on or after September 30, 2008 (the Solvency Relief Report, or SRR). For a sponsor so […]
In March 2009, the Federal Government enabled regulations under the Pension Benefits Standards Act (1985), or PBSA, allowing pension plan sponsors to offer phased retirement as a means to retain mature workers. Phased retirement programs allow employees to receive a portion of their accrued retirement income while continuing to work for their current employer or a related employer. For example, an employee could receive 60% of their pension while reducing hours worked to 75% of full time, with a comparable reduction in compensation.
Supplemental Employee Retirement Plans, or SERPs, are an important component of the total rewards package provided to many Canadian employees. To employees who are approaching retirement, a SERP entitlement can confer a significant amount of financial well-being. SERPs were originally created to provide a pension top-up to senior executives, primarily because limitations in the Income […]
As a tumultuous 2008 draws to a close, defined benefit (DB) plan sponsors are collectively holding their breath for 2009. By and large, DB plan sponsors remain committed to their plan as the best vehicle to consistently provide an appropriate retirement income for their employees. And, historically, sponsors have been willing to undertake the lion’s […]
A number of plan sponsors have one or more closed defined benefit (DB) plans that they intend to fully wind up over the coming years. In previous articles, we defined a closed DB plan to mean a plan that does not permit new members and may or may not allow current members to continue to […]
In her article (Managing Risk Through Transition), Laura Lynch examined the decision tree leading to directional strategies for exiting a closed defined benefit (DB) plan. A closed DB plan does not permit new members, and it may or may not permit existing members to continue to accrue DB benefits. A plan sponsor who is operationally […]